


East of the Sun, West of the Moon

by ValidAsshole



Category: Naruto
Genre: Board A: Fairy-Tale, Board C: Minato, Multi, This is an obscure fairy tale retelling with naruto characters, and some of my own interpretations added, dubcon mentioned at end, its 2 am and im really fucking hungry, rarepairbingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 16:31:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19088821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValidAsshole/pseuds/ValidAsshole
Summary: Based on "The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body" (from Asbjornsen and Moe).Minato goes on a journey to save his loved ones, and finds something else on the way.





	East of the Sun, West of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> The original fairy-tale can be found here https://fairytalez.com/giant-no-heart-body/
> 
> enjoy!

King Hiruzen had seven children, and he loved them so very much, could not bear to be alone in his kingdom without at least one of them by his side. But, they must find spouses and get married to bear children, but their kingdom was cut off on all sides, so they must venture out themselves to find someone worthy of their affections. They were all grown up now, so he set them on a mission to woo themselves fiances, but bid the youngest to stay with him.

 

They each had their expensive horses and clothing with eye-catching patterns made from the finest silks. They traveled the lands, trying to catch the eye of someone that they may spend their life with, share the love in their hearts with. Minato, the youngest, is to wait in the castle for them to find someone suitable for him as well.

 

And so, they set off, searching the long and far, going through the land at a snail’s pace, trying to find the right one.

 

Mikoto found hers first, a prince from a nearby kingdom. He had the most beautiful eyes, she said. You have the most beautiful smile, he says. They meet by the moonlight and kiss away from her siblings and can not bare to let go and so the next day he joined them as they continued their search.

 

Jiraiya found his in a town by the sea, quite a ways from their own. They had to travel through a great mire and slay a slithering beast on their way here. The beast had looked at them and hissed and cursed as it died and faded. “You will not return home whole.” it said. A shiver runs down their spines, but the creature is dead, and so they continue, and the pair that attach themselves to Jiraiya are too good for him. A sweet man by the name of Nagato who can not walk and his lover Konan.

 

Tsunade found a lot of people very pretty, offered them a drink and often they had a good time, but each time she asked them to leave with her, they said they could not. “I can not leave my sick mother,” one said. “I have just started my business here.” another would say. “The forest here is too precious for me to leave. I will not leave.” And so she continued searching. It is a woman, who she asks to drink with her that is the first to say no that ends up leaving with her. Matches her wit with her own and it is the closest she has come to thanking a higher power for the luck to meet her wondrous Mei.

 

Orochimaru did not think this journey would be much of a success for them, but they would not be allowed to return without a spouse. They search far and wide with their siblings pitiful eyes at their back and wanted to scorn them. They did not need a thing such as love, a companion to rest against would be nice, yes, but completely unnecessary at the same moment. They're heart is nevertheless stolen by a painter by the name of Sakumo. They find him painting a scaling building and Orochimaru has always been too curious. Sakumo indulges him and asks to come with them, and so he does.

 

Kushina finds hers in another kingdom far, far away. There, the people all look so very different, look a little more like her, and a part of her knows this is where her mother is from. There, she finds a prince who laughs with her, who tells her that he loves her red hair and she would be _in love._ But her little brother had dashed all insecurities to the color of her hair and she looked closer and she saw the cruelty in his eyes. They leave the wealthy kingdom empty-handed, but just as they leave the boy from earlier transforms into a feathered creature and bids them to help it, give it Kushina’s flesh. An arrow pierces it’s heart and it falls and falls to where they can not reach and the archer asks if they are alright. He saved them and Kushina has always been rash and she says, so you have saved my life, and so I promise myself to you.

 

Asuma, the second youngest, is the last to find his. He finds her at the ends of the Earth. Half siren, eyes red as roses, with long hair curling. She is far stronger than anyone they have met before and takes pride as a mercenary for hire. She almost kills them the first time she catches sight of their group, but she is stopped by the painter, who knows her name and asks if she would be hired to protect their group. As they take their time, taking the long way back, he hopes she will return his feelings, because he is already too far gone to return.

 

In their happiness and their struggle and their need to learn their spouses ins and outs, they forget their littlest brother.

 

And they passed by a steep hillside, that would have looked like a wall had they been looking from a perspective far, far away. And a giant fox came out from the other side of the hill and set his eyes upon them and the skies turned grey and dark as his fury came down onto them. Each and every one of them were turned to stone, not even their horses and carriages spared.

 

The king waited and waited for his children, but the longer he waited, the longer they stayed away. He felt ill with abandonment, with fear that they had decided they wanted a little more freedom. It is his youngest son that keeps him together in the end, and his youngest son that points out the possibility that has his heart pacing too fast, that they may be in trouble.

“I would like to ask your permission to leave and find them; to accompany them home.”

“No.” he says to his youngest, “Lest you end up staying away too.”

But Minato was stubborn and had his heart set on it, would not allow himself to be moved. And eventually, after 2 winters have passed, the king is worn down with wariness and age, allows him to go. With the missing royalty, and the absence of their king’s mind, the kingdom has fallen into financial ruin. He had only to give to Minato a broken-down jade. Minato did not complain, he took the sorry steed and set upon to rescue his siblings.

 

After he had ridden a while he came across a Raven.

“Oh, dearest one,” said the Raven, “I am starving, give me a little food please.”

The prince had not carried much on himself, but he thinks he could hunt something for himself if it comes to that. He gives the last of his food to the Raven begging to him.

“I can spare some for you, I see you need it.”

“Call me at the hour you most need it, My name is Rin.” says the Raven and then flies off.

 

The prince went on and he soon came to a brook, and in it laid a great Salmon, who had pushed itself in and was slowly drying out, not able to get into the water again.

“Oh, dearest one,” said the Salmon, “shove me out into the water again, please.”

“It would be a pity to leave you to lie there and choke, I would not want someone to do the same to me.” and with that, the prince shot the fish out into the stream again with a big push.

The Salmon raises in the water for the moment and says, “Call me at the hour you most need it, My name is Kakashi.”

 

After that he went a long, long way. Traveled to each of the Four corners of the land and found rumours of 13 people turned to stone by an ugly hillside by a demon fox, and there he met a Wolf so starving it crawled along the path on its belly.

“Oh, dearest one,” said the Wolf, “I am so hungry all my soft fur has fallen off. I have not eaten in two years. Give me your horse to eat, please.”

“No,” said the prince, “ this will not do, the raven has taken my food and the salmon I helped with no reasonable recourse, and now you want the horse I ride on, and if you take that I will not have anything left to find and save my siblings with.”

“You are wrong, dearest one. You can help me, and I will let you ride upon my back.”

“I am bound to help you, then. I will give you my horse, and you will be my legs until the end of this journey.”

“I will be there at the hour you most need it, call me Obito.” says the Wolf.

 

The Wolf ate and grew strong and ever stronger, and let Minato put a bit in his jaw and a saddle on his back and they set off at a speed Minato envied.

“Here is the Fox’s house,” says Obito, “and see, here rests your beloved and their chosen ones. Over there, is the door, and you must seek entrance from that door.”

 

The Prince takes one deep breath, and then another. Wants to say I mustn’t go in, because he is not strong enough to defend from such a creature.

The Wolf must see the hesitance in his eyes and his step because he stops him and says, “When you enter, you will find an immortal Prince, and he’ll tell you what to do to make an end of the Giant. Only mind and do exactly as he bids you to do.”

The Prince takes a deep breath and heeds those words, memorizes them. Yet, he went in without even a pause.

“Oh heaven help the poor fool who has come in here!” says the Prince, “it will be your death, no one can kill the fox who lives here, for he has no heart in his body.”

“Well, well.” Minato says, “now that I am here, I should try to do something; I can not leave without freeing the statues that make up my loved ones. Let them stand watch over me, and I will free them, and I will try to save you, too, while I am at it.”

The man scoffs, but says, “If you must, you must. Let us plan for your success in saving your beloved ones, then. For now, hide under the bed, make haste!”

 

So, Minato crept underneath the bed, and he’s barely in it when the door creaks open.

“Ha!” roared the giant, “I smell a human in this house!”

 

“Yes, I know the smell is strong,” said the Prince, “for there came a magpie flying with a man’s bone, and let it fall down the chimney. I got it out as fast as I could, but that was all I could do, and the smell doesn’t go away so quickly.”

And so, the Fox said no more about the subject.

 

When the night came, the Prince and the Fox went off to bed. After they had lain a while, the Prince said, “There is one thing I’d be glad to ask you about, if only I dared.”

“And what thing is that?” asks the Fox.

“Only where it is you keep your heart, since you don’t carry it about with you,” asked the Prince.

“Haha!” said the fox, “You have no business asking about that, but if you must know, it lies under the door-sill.”

 

The next morning the fox got up cruelly early, striding off to complete unknown errands. He was hardly far when Minato and the Prince set to work looking underneath the door-sill for his heart, but the more they dug, the more nothing appeared.

 

“He has fooled us once,” said the Prince, “We will try again, and he will not fool us again.”

“I am Tobirama, may I ask your name?” says the Prince as he gathers all the flowers he can find.

“I am Minato, I hail from the East, past the cove.” he says.

Prince Tobirama strewed the flowers all over the slightly wrong door-sill, and when they heard the fox approaching, Minato hid once more underneath the bed, pressing as far back as he could this time.

 

Sniff- Sniff, went the Fox’s nose. “My eyes and limbs, what a strong smell of human blood there is in here.”

“Yes, I know the smell is strong,” said the Prince, “for there came a magpie flying with a man’s bone, and let it fall down the chimney. I got it out as fast as I could, but that was all I could do, and the smell doesn’t go away so quickly.”

And so, the Fox said no more about the subject.

 

But after a little while after, he asked who it was that had strewn flowers about the door-sill.

“Oh, I, of course,” said Tobirama.

“And what is the meaning of this?” said the fox.

“I am so fond of you that I couldn’t help myself, when I knew your heart lay under there!”

“You don’t say so,” said the giant, looking guilty, “but it doesn’t lie there at all, after all.”

So, when they went to bed again in the evening, he asked once more where his heart truly lay, for he would like to know.

 

“Well,” said the fox, “it lies with you, but if you truly must know, it lies away in the cupboard against the wall.”

And soon, they will try and find it.

 

And the next day, the fox once again left early. Minato and Tobirama once more searched for his heart in a panic, hunting through the cupboard, but the more they dug, the more nothing appeared.

“He has fooled us twice,” said the Prince, “We will try again, and he will not fool us again.”

 

And so, once more, Prince Tobirama lays the cupboards with flowers and garlands, and when it came time for the fox to come home, Minato once more hid under the bed.

 

Sniff- Sniff, went the Fox’s nose. “There is too strong of a smell of human blood in here!”

“Yes, I know the smell is strong,” said the Prince, “for there came that magpie again, flying with a man’s bone, and let it fall down the chimney. I got it out as fast as I could, but that was all I could do, and the smell doesn’t go away so quickly.”

And so, the Fox said no more about the subject.

 

He saw the flowers and garlands and asks, “What is the meaning of this?”

“I am so fond of you, I could not help myself knowing your heart lay there.” said the Prince.

“How can your idiocracy stretch so far, that you believe such a thing?”

“How can I help believing it, when you say it?” said the Prince.

“You’re a goose,” said the fox, “where my heart is you will never come.”

“But for all that, it would be a pleasure to know where it truly lies.”

And the poor fox held out no longer.

 

“Far, far away in a lake lies an island; on that island stands a church and in that church. In the church well, swims a duck; in that duck there’s an egg, and my heart lays within the egg, my dearest one.”

 

And so, they went to bed. And once again, early in the morning before even first light, the fox woke and left their abode. And they left the abode as well, and outside waited the Wolf.

“Obito! It is time. Will you take us to the Church where the Fox’s heart rests?”

“I thought you would never ask.” the Wolf grins and lets them onto his back, and soon they are soaring through the world. It took many days travel before finally the wolf stopped in front of a lake. The Princes did not know how they would get across, but it is only a moment before the wolf is jumping in and swimming over to the island with them still on its back.

 

So, they came to the church; but the church keys hung up high, high up on the top of the tower.

“You must call the raven,” said the Wolf.

“It is the hour I most need it, Rin, I bid you come to thee!”

In a moment, the Raven appeared, and flew up and fetched the keys, and gave him a peck before flying off.

They entered the church and the bell chimed 9 times. They came upon the well, and there lay the duck, swimming aimlessly back and forth, just as the fox had spoken. So, Minato stood and coaxed it until it came to him, and he grasped it in his hand, but as he lifted it, the duck dropped the egg into the well, and he panicked not knowing how he’d get it out again.

 

Tobirama places a hand upon him, and he lets the show of support calm him down. He still had another option.

“It is the hour I most need it, Kakashi, I bid you come to thee!”

The Salmon appears and does not say a word as it fetches the egg from the bottom of the well and disappears as quickly as it had arrived.

 

Then, the Wolf told him to go to the fox and to squeeze the egg once he found the wretched fox.

And Tobirama looks at the heart, but does not ask to hold it.

 

When they find the fox, he is raging with blood on his teeth and a roar leaving his snout, and seems to have started to charge at them when he spots the Prince.

Minato panics and he squeezes the heart and watches as the fox comes to a stop.

“Squeeze it again,” says the Wolf, and when the fox screamed piteously, begged and prayed so prettily to be spared, saying he would do all that Minato wished if he would only not squeeze his heart in two.

 

“Tell him, if he will restore life again to your six siblings and their 7 spouses whom he turned to stone, you will spare his life” Obito whispers into his ear. Yes, the fox says, almost desperately, and he turned the six brothers into the king’s children again, and their spouses into themselves once more.

And the fox looks at them and seems to wait for the heart to be given back to him.

“Now, squeeze the heart in two,” said the Wolf. And Minato looks at the pitiful wolf who would take back his heart and then slay them all, and he squeezed the heart to pieces, and the fox cried as it died, tried to reach a stoic Prince.

 

And Tobirama did not cry as the fox died. And they rode back to the house, and there stood statues turned back and the oldest comes to him.

“It is time to go home,” she says, “let us return now.”

And he looks at Tobirama ready to follow him and he looks at the happy faces of his siblings.

_“You will not return home whole.”_

“I will not be coming home just yet,” he says with a smile, “Tell father to wait a little while longer for me!”

And so, they leave. And much later, they have a great wedding-feast, and the mirth loud and long, and the youngest never experienced the festivities.

 

Right now, he looks to Tobirama.

“You are no mortal.” he says.  
“No.” says Tobirama, “I am not. And while I did not love Kurama as he loved me, I was still fond of him.” he says it with a dark look in his eyes, seeming to remember the way the heart was crushed.

“Would you have had me give it back to him and let him kill us.”

“He was not always like that, he would have come to his senses with his heart. But, you crushed that chance.”

And as he says this he carries Minato into the house he had once hidden in, and Minato does not fight.

“Will you kill me?” asks Minato.

Tobirama contemplates.

“No.” he says, “There are better things I can do, oh dearest one.”

**Author's Note:**

> ...........................sorry (If it helps tobi forgives him later and they actually talk beyond the 3 days they fucked with some flowers)


End file.
